


Lost? Or Not?

by AnselaJonla



Series: Prompt fills [21]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 19:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17904002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnselaJonla/pseuds/AnselaJonla
Summary: A fic written for a prompt on the r/WritingPrompts subreddit:[WP] “Hello, Welcome to the Brotherhood of Villains, How can I help you?”





	Lost? Or Not?

"Villains?" the poor girl in front of me says weakly, horror filling her eyes. She looks around, as if she's only just noticing the less-than-heroic decor of the reception area.

Honestly, the skulls decorating the back of my monitor are probably a step  _too_  far.

"Yes. I'm assuming you were wanting the League of Heroes?" She nods, tears filling her eyes. "Head left, keep going until you reach the third Costa Coffee, then turn right and keep going until you can see Cafe Nero. It's just a few doors down from there."

Sadly I have those directions memorised. Google is  _forever_  sending people to us instead of the headquarters of those do-gooders. I'm pretty certain that one of our people has something to do with it.

She sniffles as she turns away, and I see a bruise painting the back of her arm in livid blue and purple splotches. My conscience pricks at me.

Yes, the receptionists for the 'bad guys' have a conscience. This one does, anyway.

"Wait." She pauses with her hand on the door. "If you want to talk before you go, I can listen. Those guys over there... they're good with the 'stopping evil' thing, but unless you want someone beaten to a pulp before being handed over to the police..."

She shakes her head. "The cops won't do nothing about Darren. I already  _tried_  them. They just had a chat with him an' left, an' he got angry with me. I didn't even call them."

I lead her over to the small seating area at the side of the reception and gently sit her down on one of the leather sofas (black, of course, with blood red trim). I quickly make a cup of tea (earl grey, in a black china mug decorated with an upturned pentagram), and slide it across the table (black and green malachite top) towards her. She wraps her hand around it and curls in on herself.

"He was so  _nice_  when we met. He called me beautiful, an' bought me loads of presents, an' made me feel like the prettiest girl in the whole world. We moved in together coz I was pregnant, and he just... changed, y'know? Became really mean. He started yellin', an' swearin' at me, an' callin' me names. Ev'rythin' was my fault, even if it happened at work. Then las' week he started hittin' me. After the cops came round. For embarrassin' him."

Unfortunately I've heard this story before, from too many women and more men than you'd expect. Most go on to ask the League for help, and then I inevitably see in the papers that the abuser got far too lenient a sentence. Maybe it's time to take a... different approach.

"I think that you might have actually come to the right place." I pull my tablet out from my pocket, and scroll through the directory to see which of our members are currently in the building. Ah, perfect... "Go to the third floor, office 307. I'll tell the Minister of Misery that you're on your way up.  _Remember to knock and wait_."

Aaron has been complaining so terribly of boredom recently. Getting to exercise his talents on someone that even the  _heroes_  can't justify protecting will be just what he needs to get out of his funk. And if it actually helps this poor woman... well, no one said that Villains can't do  _some_  good deeds.


End file.
